The Real Reason Mortal Engines Was A Massive Box Office Flop

Mortal Engines was a massive flop at the box office. What was the reason that this potential series builder bombed so hard at the box office, really? There’s a lot to unpack with this movie - which potentially just killed a franchise. Despite a $100 million budget, and a marketing budget of more than $120 million, Mortal Engines pulled in a measly $7.5 million domestic in its opening weekend - only good enough for fifth place. What went wrong exactly? Well, we can start by looking at the marketing.

Despite a lot of cash and ads, unless you were familiar with the 2001 Philip Reeve book (and books after), the idea of cities on wheels that roll around and gobble up smaller cities sounds… well… silly. The ads didn’t do a very good job explaining what exactly was going on. Another issue was the presentation: Is this a drama? An action movie? Is it a teen drama? If you went with teen drama for Mortal Engines you’d be correct, and we are at a time when teen/young adult dramas are flopping left and right; the timing was rather poor.

Then Mortal Engines had the misfortune of opening against Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and The Mule - which eliminated two major age groups from seeing it. Add in a surprise exclusive showing of Aquaman via Amazon Prime and holdovers like Ralph Breaks The Internet, it’s not a surprise at all that the city on wheels movie never got rolling.

The mortal what now? | 0:13
City in ruins | 0:55
Worlds collide | 1:46
Rotten roll-out | 2:49
What's the story? | 3:33
Missing the moment | 4:23